Biography: McGarren Flack is a talented young artist who has reached artistic maturity after painting for three years. He started painting in the fall of 2002 at Brigham Young University in the Illustration program. He graduated from BYU in April of 2005. Flack was then accepted into the Masters of Fine Art program at the University of Utah. He plans to graduate with his MFA in painting and drawing by April 2008. Flack's professional interest in art started when he saw the John Singer Sargent traveling art show in Washington D.C. He was captivated with the ability Sargent had in producing a scene that came alive and at the same time painted Brava brushstrokes. Flack's inspirations are mostly twentieth century artists like Ander Zorn, John Singer Sargent, JW Waterhouse, Carl Bloch, and P.S. Kroyer. Artist Statement: I love to paint Alla Prima, relatively quickly painted wet oil into wet oil technique. Alla Prima for me is a painterly representation of a moment in time. The painting needs to be painted quick enough to capture a scene and at the same time placement of each brushstroke is essential. Hard edges can be built up with thicker paint and soft edges are generated by placing one brushstroke along side another. Oil painting is a versatile medium that allows a full range of value and color. But most of all oil paint has the greatest longevity of any other medium. Oil paintings can last for thousands of years with permanency of color. Other mediums start to lose their color and value so the consequence is a change in meaning. I would hope that my paintings would inspire people not only today but in the years to come and keep its true original meaning. People are my main subject matter even though I like to paint some landscapes and still lives. I have always been interested in looking at people. I find it fascinating how people respond to their situations. When children are raised in the same home with the same parents, they could have different responses to the same situation. If a coach told both of the kids they sucked, they could respond in two ways: They could say their coach was right and quit, or they could use the response to motivate them to practice and become the best they can. What makes a person respond one way as oppose to the other? Currently my paintings consist of a single figure. The space is non-representational so the focus is on the action or reaction of the figure. By being alone the figure is able to express themselves without fear of being judged. Who they are comes out into the open so the viewer can judge their relationship with the experience. Human emotion is a response to a present or past experience. Emotions are a powerful force of motivation. But where is the emotion taking the viewer? Do they respond to the painting as it sits in front of them, or do past memories consume their thoughts? Capturing an emotion through painting is a difficult experience. I hope that the viewer will come to realize, not only how they respond to the paintings, but also how they react in their personal life experiences.